Current non-volatile memory systems generally perform a number of housekeeping operations, such as garbage collection or various data management operations related to the use large blocks, as part of their data management operations. Since portable memory devices typically do not have their own independent power, they rely upon host power to perform these operations. Because the memory needs to be assured of the power supply during these operations, these are usually performed while the host is actively engaged with the memory device, being interspersed during data transfer operations. Consequently, this can result in a loss in performance.